Cover Story
by MoreZabby
Summary: Tony is Zivas cover story - but what would happen to Abby if Eli found out about their relationship?  Although this is a darker story than normal I shall still put some cheerful scenes in it as well!  Set in the first few episodes of S4 - spoiler for 4X01
1. Under Covers

_**Cover Story**_

When Ziva stormed into the Mossad office of the Israeli embassy that day she was undoubtedly surprised when Michael Bashan informed her of her father spying on her. She was not surprised that they had been watching her interactions with Tony, just the bad timing for bringing it up.

She had known that her father would have her spied on. She had even seen his "professionally trained" spies on her journeys. That was precisely why Tony had been visiting her flat so often in the first place. He was their cover story. Once he entered her house she could sit him in a chair and put a DVD on and he would be content to sit while she sneaked out. Tony was the only one who was read into this plan. If Gibbs knew the risks that Ziva put Abby into he'd have her deported before she even had the chance to apologise. Not that that was an issue anymore with him being in Mexico all this time. So whilst Tony watched movies and occasionally imitated the noises of a sexual relationship she could sneak out and go spend time with Abby.

In return Tony got to charge DVDs to her blockbuster account and order a pizza at least once a week. Not to mention be away from the constant phone calls he got from ex-girlfriends and his father. In all honesty this arrangement suited them both just fine! It was sometimes even fun to try and evade the spies! She had taught Tony what to look out for and he had learned a lot – obviously his job was to be caught, but these skills would undoubtedly be handy later.

The most important thing was to keep Abby safe! If her father knew of her relations with the woman he would have her killed in an instance. For this reason they had to be subtle, and sometimes that meant lying. In her fathers eyes it was ok to have relations with women for information, or even for instant pleasure – but not for long term relations. And what she had with Abigail certainly was long term. For the past three months they may have been sneaking around, but the relationship had been more than a friendship for the past five. Everything she did now was to protect Abigail. This is one rule which she broke when she was in hiding from Mossad, the FBI and NCIS in Gibbs basement. All she knew was that she was scared and needed to talk to her Abigail! She did not anticipate quite how dangerous it would be to break her own rules for keeping Abby safe when she picked up the phone. Perhaps if she had anticipated the dangers she would have called Tony instead.


	2. Walking on Sunshine

**_Chapter 2_**

"_I'm walking on sunshine wooohooo_

_I'm walking on sunshine – wooohooo_

_And don't it feel GREAT!"_

It wasn't her usual type of music but Abby was in such a great mood! First Ziva was found innocent of murder, and then she won the bowling tournament with her nun-squad – that was her special nickname for them. After that she and Ziva had celebrated! They didn't even invite Tony over, it was just the two of them, they went to the cinema and then they had dinner (it's usually the other way around, but since her favourite diner was a night-time only kinda place they had to wait). Then a whole night of board games and hanky panky occurred. After all of the good things in her life recently she didn't even hate the sun! A high factor sun cream and a scarf on her head kept her fair complexion intact and she was free to walk and sing.

She was excited for work as usual and the single caf-pow she had yet to finish was keeping her spirits high. However, as she turned the last corner before entering the naval base she felt the hairs on her neck stand up. Pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders Abby looked around nervously. She had decided to walk the twelve blocks to work this morning and Ziva was taking her car to work this morning, this had been the way Abby wanted things – until now. Suddenly things seemed a lot more intimidating, she knew the chill wasn't from the weather – as she had needed some water on her journey just to stay cool. With this in mind Abby started to walk faster, she could feel someones eyes on the back of her head, but could see nobody. Speeding up now Abby almost broke into a small jog. She knew that once inside the navy base she was supposed to be safe – but people had made it into the base before in order to hurt her. Ari and Mikel got in without hassle and there was that terrorist guy in the taxi seat worse still Chip even passed all of the security clearances! She really had to speak to security about getting stricter. Just not today. She barely even said hello to them as she jogged past them. They weren't too shocked; sometimes she would have to jog just to wear off the caffeine induced edginess of one too many caf-pows. It wasn't like her to not talk to them though. She did hear the taller one exclaim "she's started early on them today" and she chuckled internally.

She was speed walking by the time she reached the door and still looking behind her when she literally bumped into Tony carrying his third cup of coffee of the day. The coffee had spilled all down his shirt, had it been anyone else he would have been furious, but with Abby he was worried. He had seen her looking behind her and that was never a good sign.

He grabbed her shoulders as he spoke "Ab's everythin' alright?"

"Ohmygod Tony I'm so sorry – Ill pay for drycleaning and..."

"Abby I'm not talking about the shirt – what the hell had you walking so fast?"

With one last look behind her Abby sighed, she was probably being paranoid right... Mikel was in prison and she had no other stalkers... It was a sunny day and she must have just felt the chill from walking in the shadows. Then her paranoid mind had made up all of the rest and...

"Abs are you there? What's up?"

"Oh nothings up, I'm ok! I was just in a hurry and forgot to look where I was going... I'm sorry!"

"Right... well then don't do it again!" Dinozzo barked. He knew he had to sound mad or Abby would see how worried he really was. He made a mental note to make sure that Abby's stalker was still safely behind bars. While he was at it, he'd check that anyone who'd ever hurt her was safely away.

All day Abby felt on edge, she kept telling herself that she was being paranoid – but it was hard not to worry. She kept feeling like something was wrong. Someone had even hacked into her computer. They had been good, it was hard for her to detect them, but she had done her ritualistic scan right as they were logging out. If they'd been 25 seconds slower she could have located their location. Luckily for them they had logged out right then. She told Tony that someone had hacked her pc and then spent the next hour with McGee toughening her security systems. These systems had been pretty unbreachable and she forgot her stress with the amount of fun she had with McGee daring him to hack in while she defended.

She felt much better by lunch time. Ziva had come to check in on her and had been great at comforting her. The case they were working was so easily fixed that she got to go home at 7. The rest of the team was doing paper work until 9. Despite having almost forgotten to be afraid by 7pm Abby still decided to drive back. Ziva had agreed to get a lift from Tony and was just going to go back to her own place tonight and watch movies with him. They had spent so much time pretending to hang out that they hadn't actually hung out recently at all.

Opening the car door Abby stepped into a somewhat chilly night. Compared to the day the night was nice and refreshing. There was a soft breeze and Abby breathed deeply to inhale the smell of autumn coming in. She hummed the song she sang earlier then giggled. This song just wouldn't leave her head! Deciding not to hold in anymore Abby started to sing loudly "I'm walking on sunshine woo-hooo"

The elevator was still broken so she took to the stairs "Im walking on Sunshinnne" Turning the corner at the first floor she sings louder "WOOO_HOOO" she lived on the second floor, so taking to stairs two at a time she was nearly home. "And don't it fee..."

She hadn't noticed the man in the corner. Not until it was too late. She felt him before she saw him. He grabbed her from behind, his arm crossing from one arm to the other making her unable to use her arms at all. Just as she was about to simultaneously open her mouth to scream and raise her iron clad boot to stamp on him he put a cloth to her nose and mouth. Half a second later he dragged her limp body to his colleague who was waiting outside Abby's front door.

Once both colleagues opened the door and entered the flat the first thing they saw was Mikels smiling face. "So I get her when you are done right? That was our deal?"

The man holding Abby nodded. If Abigail was still alive after they had concluded their business then Mikel was indeed more than welcome to her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN **This is much creepier than I originally intended, I have never written a dark story before so please let me know what you think!


	3. The heartache

**FF COVER STORY CH3**

The next day Abby was not at work when Ziva arrived. However, this didn't concern the Israeli too much as roughly once a month Abby would sleep in due to her body crashing from the crazy work schedule. It was only half past six in the morning and Ziva resolved that if Abby hadn't arrived by half past 8 she would call her to wake her up. Settling down at her desk she turned on her computer and checked her e-mails as she did often. With Tel-Aviv being seven hours ahead of Washington it was logical to check her e-mails first thing in the morning.

She was slightly surprised to have an e-mail from Abby. When reading it her eyes grew wider with each sentence - it said:

_**Hey Zivs,**_

_**I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore – any of it! I've been thinking this for months, but you just have too much baggage! I want simple! I mean I even broke up with McGee and Mikel just because of their need for commitment and I loved them soo much! I just can't be with you – you need too much from me! I'm sick of sneaking around! We can't tell the team or our families because YOU don't think it's safe. Whatever! I'm out!**_

_**Don't try to look for me! I'm away with my family and I don't know if I'm coming back!**_

_**Abby**_

Trying not to cry Ziva closed the message. The words "too much baggage" and "I don't know if I'm coming back" were swimming around her head. If Tony noticed anything when he walked into the bullpen he didn't mention it. Not wanting to be around him or to risk letting her emotions show she quickly excused herself to the toilet.

Leaning against the sink she let the water run from her face as she had done a few times before. With the water her tears could fall freely and she could disguise them if anyone came looking. She couldn't help but think of the first time she and Abby had met up outside of work...

****N****ot so subtle flashback****

_Ziva had been stressed out; she had been on the field trying to apprehend a serial killer. Each member of the team was to protect a member of the "hit list" they had found. Unfortunately they didn't learn until later that the woman Ziva was to protect had been the killer all along. The woman had waited until the case was dismissed then proceeded to kill the other witnesses. Although everyone had admitted that Ziva couldn't have known she was still moping. _

_This is when Abby had bounded into the bullpen full of her usual zest for life. She had insisted they go out for a meal or to the dancing because she had drank too many caff-pows to go home to bed. Reluctantly Ziva had agreed to go, they ended up going to an Israeli restraint that Abby had chosen in advance and then to a club where the music was a mixture of different genres. In this place all of Zivas inner doubts and inhibitions were put to the side for a few hours as she enjoyed dancing with the strange woman. This was the start of a new routine. They did not always go dancing, but they did always go for really good food whenever the day had been too stressful and they needed to relax. It was perhaps in this moment that Ziva had first noticed her attraction for the other woman. This was a feeling that had kept growing until 2 months later Abby had asked her on their first date..._

** **real time****

Ziva shook her head; dwelling in the past would do little to help her move on. Abigail had stated her feelings very clearly and there appeared to be little she could do to help her. Dumping her over e-mail seemed a very low move, not to mention an incredibly dangerous one too! If Zivas father had been tracing her e-mail account then Abigail may not be safe, and neither would Ziva. Her father could call her back to work in Tel-Aviv at any point using only a phone call. Quickly Zivas sadness turned to irritation.

Drying her face Ziva walked back into the bullpen where she noticed that McGee and Tony were bossing around the new "probie" and making her do all sorts of menial tasks. Sitting back at her desk she tried to look uninterested and busy by pulling up records of cold cases.

Never the less, there remained a feeling in her gut that told her to be on red alert for anything suspicious.

* * *

><p>Two hours later McGee walked into the bullpen with a perplexed look upon his face. "Did anyone hear from Abby, there's a sub in the lab and she hasn't called in to check that no-one is being framed for murder!"<p>

With this Tony slammed down a folder, "Must everyone bring that up all the time? It's a very sensitive subject for me!"

McGee smiled but apologised. Ziva stared at her computer screen pretending not to notice the conversation just as Tony was commenting that it actually was pretty strange after all. This was the perfect moment for Ziva to get up and claim she was going on a coffee run. She just had to get away from the group and it seemed the perfect excuse. As she turned the corner towards the stairwell she decided to lean against the wall there – away from everyone's view to try and gather her thoughts back together. Her heart felt like it was breaking all over again. There was a dull ache in her chest, and it seemed to engulf her stomach as well. Briefly she thought of getting a muffin or something, but then she remembered how she used to run past the muffin shop on her morning jog and pick one up for Abby for breakfast. With a deep sigh, she turns to leave for the coffee shop; she didn't want the others to become suspicious. However, just as she prepared to leave she noticed Toy standing behind her.

"You know Tony; I'm really regretting teaching you how to avoid being spotted."

"No need Zi-vah – what's going on with you and Absent Abby?"

Ziva sighed and told Tony of the e-mail. She said how it was completely out of the blue as they were supposed to have plans tonight.

"You know Tony, I thought Abby was above this, I never thought she'd stoop so low! But I don't know, maybe it's a good thing? I mean I'm a federal agent..."

Tony quickly corrected with "Mossad officer"

"Right, sorry... I'm a federal agent/ mossad officer. I shouldn't be distracted with matters of the heart right?"

"Just you keep telling yourself that Zivah – after you get my coffee!"

With that Ziva sighed and left to get the coffee, as much as she tried she couldn't help but think where Abby was and what she was doing. She was probably still travelling, maybe listening to something loudly as she did so.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile...<p>

Groaning Abby woke up. She rolled over to check the time, it was probably well past the time she was due to start work! As she rolled she fell off the bed, something that was never an issue if you slept in a coffin! Suddenly wide awake Abby's eyes were able to take in her surroundings.

She had been lying on a single bed; this was the only piece of furniture in the room. There was a black box on one wall, it was smooth and plastic and appeared to be a part of the wall itself. There was also a security camera in one of the top corners. It was pointed towards the bed and was one of the new high-tech types that can move at the viewers will. In the corner of the room there was a baby potty, bright pink in colour. There was nothing else in the room at all. Not even bedding on the bed – it was literally just the bed and the mattress.

Not sure of what to do Abby climbed back up onto the bed. She decide to take off her dog collar in order to use is as some sort of knuckle duster that would help her fight if someone was to enter the room – but when she reached up she noticed that it was gone, as were her wrist cuffs, her boots, and her rings. Anything that could have been used as a weapon had been removed! Even her hair ties were gone, meaning that Abby had to leave her hair down and wavy.

Suddenly she heard footsteps outside. Crawling back down onto the floor Abby hid behind the bed as the door opened. As the other person entered the room Abby jumped up from her hiding place, wielding the potty as a weapon. This act of bravery was quickly counteracted when she spotted Mikel as the one to enter. She stood still; completely shocked at his presence... he was supposed to be in prison! How could no-one have warned her about his escape!

"See I knew you couldn't hurt me Abb's I knew you loved me too much, and that's ok – I still love you and now we can finally be together!"

"Mikel – How many times have I told you – I don't love you, I'm not even sure I ever did – you're a wackjob and you need to leave me alone and get your butt back into jail!"

"Abby I know you think that now – but that's just because you're mad! As soon as you calm down you will see that we are meant to be together!"

"Well that's convenient isn't it! You seem to have totally forgotten that my friends will get me out of here!"

"But Abby – that's the thing they are not even looking! They are sick of you always getting yourself into mess!"

"That's not true Mikel! It's not true!"

With that Mikel went into his pocket and brought out a remote control. He pressed a button and the black square on the wall moved down into the wall itself. Behind it there was a television screen that was showing static.

"Abby I know you hate to watch movies alone, but I think that may be the best way to view this one." With that Mikel pressed another button and left.

On the screen Abby could see Ziva and Tony talking beside the stairwell. She saw Ziva leaning against the wall. The clip she saw on the screen showed only part of a conversation, but that small segment was enough to make Abby shake in fear and anger as tears fell from her eyes.

All the clip showed was Ziva saying: _**"But I don't know, maybe it's a good thing? I mean I'm a federal agent..."**_

_**Tony quickly corrected with "Mossad officer"**_

"_**Right, sorry... I'm a federal agent/ mossad officer. I shouldn't be distracted with matters of the heart right?"**_

Abby sobbed into her arm as the same clip played over and over again. She didn't really know why she was here. How they had gotten the recordings, or how Mikel had gotten free but suddenly none of that mattered. She had been kidnapped and Ziva thought it was a _good thing?_

After the clip played for the tenth time the screen showed static again and the cover moved back up to its original position. Abby cried so hard that afternoon that she had actually thrown up into the potty. All this was a result of the thought that she had meant that little to Ziva and Tony.

**A/N A little sadder than I thought - but I hope you enjoy it anyways :) It will get more cheery later on. Let me know what you think :)**


	4. Gut instinct

Cover Story ch4 –

After Ziva had returned from getting coffee she was clearly far from the moving on which she spoke to Tony about. Despite her best efforts to keep her face professional and her emotions disguised it was pretty evident that she was thinking of Abby the whole day.

At one point Tony had tried to put his hand upon her shoulder in order to show that he sympathises with her, he had suffered a broken heart once upon a time as well – not that he'd ever share that to anyone! However, she was so on edge that even just Tony's hand being on her shoulder earned him a lot of pain as she grabbed and twisted it. Needless to say he never tried to touch her for the rest of the day. This didn't stop him from looking over at her desk frequently and he became more concerned as the day went on. Ziva started at her pc for the majority of the day, they had been light on cases and so she had nothing to distract her from the misery. Abby didn't want her anymore, just like how she didn't want McGee and Mikel anymore. She read the e-mail a hundred times, and kept refreshing the page to see if maybe it was all a prank, maybe Abby would message her saying "ha ha got you there!". But the more times she refreshed the more she realised that there was no further reply. This made her more miserable every moment. She may have said that she had to move on, but sometimes it just wasn't that easy!

McGee was positively confused; he didn't understand what was wrong with Ziva or Tony. Sure it wasn't like Abby to miss work and not let them know, but it had to be around that time that she crashed and fell asleep surely. He couldn't understand why everyone was so tense. He had entered the bullpen and said that Abby's replacement was quite cute and Tony slapped him on the head. This in itself was not odd, as since Gibbs departure Tony had been acting more and more like his old mentor. The strange thing was that Tony did not only slap McGee's head, but he looked at Ziva to see if she reacted. She didn't however; she just kept hitting the refresh button – lost in her own world.

After a few more hours of an awkward silence Ziva stood up very suddenly. Tony jumped up beside her and asked where she was going. She simply replied "To work Tony, it is why we are here!" Tony looked at his watch, it was four pm – Ziva had been in a stupor for ten hours and they were due to go home at five assuming no cases came in. However, the chances of being home in an hour diminished the moment he saw the number of cold case files Ziva brought into the room. He had to run to help her with the pile of files and he took half onto his desk. McGee following lead grabbed a couple of files from each desk and sat down with a sigh. He had been hoping to write another chapter of his story that night, but apparently everyone had visited crazy town and he felt obligated to try and help them out of it.

The team sat in silence for an hour and a half, McGee checking his watch and Tony checking Ziva. Then Jenny Sheppard walked down the stairs and beckoned Tony to join her.

He did so with one last worried look at Ziva who was still working at her desk. When behind closed doors she turned to face him.

"It's about Abby isn't it?"

Tony didn't even try to pretend he didn't know what was going on, he simply nodded.

"You know Agent Dinozzo I was worried something like this would happen! Eli is a powerful man; you couldn't expect him not to know!"

"How did you find out?"

"Tony did you really think I was that naive? I've known Ziva a long time, I probably knew about her feelings for Ms Sciuto before she did!"

"You think her father has something to do with this?" Tony considered the possibility; he hadn't really thought of it, he'd just taken Ziva's word that Abby had emailed her breaking up. Maybe that's why she was so upset, if she knew her father was in on it!

"Obviously I can't speculate, but maybe it would be worthwhile getting in touch with her family?"

With this Tony quickly turned on his heels and left. He hadn't really thought it was too weird that Abby would break up with Ziva; she had a track record of leaving people uncertain of where they stood. He'd seen the same in McGee, but he had handled it much better. This in itself should have seemed strange. When Tony left the Directors office he noticed that Ziva's chair was empty and her desk was clean.

McGee was in the middle of packing up his things as well when Tony cornered him. It only took for Tony to look at the empty desk for McGee to tell him that Ziva had gone home as soon as Tony left the room

Tony looked around quickly then whispered in his best Jack Kerouac voice "Are you ready to do something crazy?"

"Tony I think you're being plenty crazy for the both of us!""

"I want you to hack Ziva's pc!"

"Tony she will kill us!"

"McGee -I'm your boss now..."

"Right on it...is there anything I should look out for in particular?"

"need her e-mail"

"Well it could take some time... the chances of her password being in English is very low..."

* * *

><p>When Abby awoke she found a plastic bowl of porridge and a plastic cup of water lying next to the door. Sighing she picked up the food and made her way under the security camera, hoping to find a blind spot to eat in. She hated porridge! It is one of the few foods in the world that has no taste! But she was hungry! After smelling to check it had no poisons she cautiously took a spoonful. With this she nearly threw up, it was so cold! It had to have been lying there for the past two hours! Silently she resolved that when she got free she would eat real food, and lots of it. She put the bowl to one side as the TV became visible again. She didn't want to watch her team moving on without her, but at least she knew they were ok! On the screen this time she saw Gibbs in Mexico. She jumped up and shouted "Gibbs! Gibbs! Come get me!"<p>

But then she saw the lady from the cantina telling him he had a phone call. Gibbs took one look at the scribbled down number. "Nah I'm sick of talking to her about this! Tell her I'm busy!"

In shock Abby sat down on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them for comfort. Then she started to sob, as she did so she didn't notice that she was rocking forward and backwards... The three men watching the video feed did notice though and they smiled at one another.

* * *

><p>Gibbs sighed and got back to fixing the roof. He didn't know how people had found his number, but this was the third time his ex-wife had called him in two weeks and he was sick of it!<p>

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back in the NCIS office, McGee had finally cracked Ziva's password.<br>"OOOH Italian!" Tony exclaimed loudly, making McGee regret helping him. However when they opened up the e-mail from Abby both McGee and Tony froze for different reasons! McGee was shocked that Abby and Ziva had been dating, but Tony had found the abnormality he was looking for... he had his clue and could now justify the churning in his gut.

* * *

><p><strong>AN Hey sorry this took so long to update, essay time... in 2/3 weeks I'll be totally free though!  
><strong>

**But I'm very curious to see if anyone can guess what Tony saw that made him know something was wrong? **


	5. finding clues

Cover Story ch5

In the NCIS office

After reading the e-mail Abby had sent to Ziva Tony sighed and turned to McGee. Secretly he was pleased by the look of shock on the younger man's face, but they didn't have time for this. He slapped the back of his head and that quickly brought him out of his shock.

"T...tony, they were... I mean Abby and Ziva... they..."

"Shut up Mcstutter, seriously, you call yourself a detective! Read it again and see what's wrong with this picture!"

"Umm the fact that Abby is breaking up with her?"

"MCGEE get over the fact that they dated... are you picturing it? Don't picture it..."

"What? No! I wasn't picturing... but you know Abby always said that she would never dump by e-mail! She said it's the wimps' way out..."

"Ok so it suspicious on two counts... McGee she said she loved Mikel! Abby NEVER claimed to love Mikel, just said they were dating and it got serious then she broke up with him! She wouldn't claim to love him after last year!"

McGee just stood in shock and stared as Dinozzo ran off to get the phone.

"Who are you calling Tony?" He asked in a voice so quiet that he inwardly kicked himself for sounding weak.

"I'm calling the prison guards to see if Mikel is in custody, you find out where Abby's family lives and call the local police station, then see if they can allocate someone who knows sign language to see if they have heard...well saw from Abby"

"On it boss!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at Ziva's house...<p>

She never drank, but tonight was worth making an exception, she read the e-mail again, it was just too cruel! Now that she was firmly in the safety of her own home she allowed the tears to fall. At work it was never practical to cry, but here she felt free to show her emotions, her heart was breaking and she was so angry at herself for even letting Abigail close enough to inflict that sort of damage. Taking another sip of Whisky she knew what to do. Gibbs would kill her for breaking rule 12 and dating Abby, but at the same time he would be the only one capable of making her return to NCIS. He might even find out what it was about this whole situation that felt so... hinky.

Once she decided and had taken another sip for Dutch courage (that's what Tony called it once) she received the piece of paper that had the number from Abby only a week and a half previously.

When Gibbs finally answered he sounded irritated at being interrupted from his night, but when he heard the sadness in Ziva's voice he softened a little. Once again he reminded Ziva that saving her was no longer his responsibility, and he did not even get too angry to hear that she had dated his favourite scientist. He was however surprised to hear that Abby had dumped her by e-mail. He asked her to read the e-mail out to him, not that she had to for she had already memorised it. As soon as she finished reciting the e-mail he loudly swore then claimed he'd be on the first flight and she should meet him at the airport as he had no car.

Knowing that she couldn't drink and drive Ziva tried to call Tony to get him to drive her, but his phone was busy, so she did the only thing she could and called Ducky. Although he was surprised Ducky claimed sweetly that he would do anything to help a lady in distress and it was agreed.

* * *

><p>In the NCIS office...<p>

Tony was pacing up and down whilst on the phone. This was something he rarely did; it was usually only after too many coffees or too much stress. To make matters worse he was getting more and more angry as the conversation went on. McGee looked up nervously from his computer and decided that he should try to find some sort of information in order to try and appease his angry boss.

"WHY were we not told of this? ... Do you not think WE DESERVED to know? What were you even thinking? No, no you're right I should calm down and understand... except I CAN'T CALM DOWN! I'll calm down when you learn to do your job properly! I'll need that report sent to my office by 0600 hours... yes you too; I hope you have a lovely night! I'm sure it will be nicer than the night of my forensic specialist!"

With that Tony hung up on the confused and scared prison guard and slammed the phone down. McGee was trying not to jump up and harass Tony for details, but it took every ounce of restraint he had.

Finally Tony managed to take a deep breath and he turned to McGee. "Mikel killed himself in the jail. They did an autopsy but no DNA check, there's a chance that it was an impersonator... this fool thinks that the chance is too low to be counted as being there, but he also doesn't know to send the body to us, or to let us know he's dead, or to ensure a DNA swab is done."

McGee stared at Tony in shock again, this was the angriest he'd ever seen him be. It was quite intimidating how scary Tony was tonight, Tim for one knew never to cross with Abby on Tony's watch after all of this. Coughing he looked at his pc hoping for some sort of divine answer. He tried to think back to the last time that he had seen Abby. She had gone home more than 24 hours ago, the day had been a good day; they had spent time together cracking and defending the pc's then they had enjoyed time together after lunch when the rest of the team was busy. He knew he was forgetting something though...He angrily slammed down on his mouse then remembered...

"Tony, someone hacked into Abby's PC yesterday... we couldn't figure out why... maybe if I go onto her PC I can look deeper..."

"Go... now!"

McGee jumped up and almost ran down to the lab where he quickly logged onto Abby's PC and started searching. Knowing this would take a while Tony got his probie a caf-pow then headed off to Abby's lab. He probably shouldn't have gone alone and without backup but it never occurred to him to do it differently. He did call the director as he went and promised to call back every few minutes.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile elsewhere...<p>

Abby was sitting in the corner again; it was the only part of the room that didn't drive her crazy. She was going crazy anyway she could tell. She even looked crazy. Every few minutes she was pushing back her hair, so now it stood up in a crazy mane. Her skirt had some porridge stains on it and a little vomit from when she cried so much she was sick. She knew she probably smelled bad, and her makeup was probably all over her face. She usually wore a lot of eyeliner and mascara, so with all of the tears it was probably in lines down her face!

None of that mattered however when the TV came back on. She could see her family; they were sat around the table signing to one another with a guest there. "Have you heard from Abby recently?" asked the guest.

"No, but she sometimes forgets to call us, you know she gets so wrapped up in her work she often forgets about us!"

Abby sat back with shock in her eyes "No mama! Mama I don't forget I'm sorry! I'll video call you soon as I get out I promise!" Then she started to cry again, surprised that there were any tears left. She felt so alone, she didn't even know why she was kidnapped, but she would rather if they tortured her they did it by hitting her – at least then she could block it out. Now she would even want to spend time with her captors, just so she wasn't so alone anymore!

Surprisingly enough the screen flashed back on just a second later, this time showing Ziva and Ducky in Ziva's apartment. Ziva was talking "No I have to see him, he's the only one who understands how I feel. I think he's feeling something a little off about all of this, I am too you know... I just, I need him around. I think more than anyone we can get each other."

* * *

><p>Back at NCIS<p>

"Tony! I found out what they came after!"

"What is that?" Tony asked walking into the lab holding his phone to his ear. McGee however didn't speak, he simply pointed at the screen. On the screen was an activation program that allowed for the captors to record everything that was said on film by hacking into the system and by planting new cameras. Tony grabbed a sheet of paper "Can you shut it down?" He wrote.

McGee simply shook his head, "It's complex, I need help" He wrote. Sighing Tony decided they had to say something that made it look like they didn't know anything "McGee shut down that virus issue ASAP"

McGee looked confused but claimed that he was right on it and he may need help. Tony agreed that someone from IT would be up as soon as someone was in the office.

Sighing Tony had only one thought left... "We will catch this guy!"

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, thanks everyone for reading and reviewing :) congrats if you guessed the abnormality! <strong>

**also a hi to zivacentric and a thanks her her wonderfully entertaining review :D**


	6. The most beautiful sight

_**I am so sorry for the delay guys and girls! turns out I'm really enjoying being at home and seeing my family (not to mention my wonderful fiancee)**_

_**Anyways I figured better late than never, I tried to make this update pretty easy to catch up on as well as a wee bit less morbid (just in case you forgot how it was going) **_

_**Thanks for sticking with it!**_

**Cover story ch6**

The three men who had taken Abby captive stared at the feed from the lab with a mixture of concern and curiosity. They had been caught sooner than anyone had anticipated. Suddenly the game was entirely different, Tony and Mcgee may have thought that by passing notes they were being subtle, but they had clearly forgotten about the webcam in Abbys pc that had recorded the entire thing. Sadly now things would be different, it would be harder to get recordings to show to the goth in the next room and if they did get recordings they would surely be worded a lot more carefully. They may have to start being more imaginative.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Ziva was nervous, she had already consumed too much alcohol to be in Duckys bumpy motor. However, worse than that was the knowledge that she'd missed something, she had read that e-mail so many times, memorised it in fact; and yet Gibbs hears it once and flys over... clearly whatever it was that she had missed out was something very big! Bigger thanthe simple fact that Abby had broken up with her.<p>

It had been almost ten hours since Gibbs had boarded his flight so she knew it was due to land soon, and yet despite having been in the air for so long he seemed to be so much more informed on what was going on in her life than she was. The frustration of it all was tiring and it was a mixture of this intense frustration, the overwhelming grief of the day and the alcohol she had consumed that caused Ziva to fall into an uncomfortable sleep.

_Trying to remind herself that she was dreaming Ziva looked around herself to see a beatiful desert landscape with all of the comforts of home. An Israeal without the infliction of war, she could see sand for miles, and yet the heat was not uncomfortable, there were no noises of war and noone seemed on edge. People were sitting in rows in front of her, and they all seemed happy to see her, nervously she looked around, trying to figure out why they were staring at her. Looking up she saw a gorgeously decorated chuppa that she was certain hadn't been there before. Curiously she stared down between the rows of chairs and then she saw the most beautiful thing she thought she'd ever seen before in her life. Upon a camel and looking nervous about being so sat Abigail, her dress was so long it trailed down behind the animal and almost touched the ground. Abbys father led the camel and Tony and McGee walked behind. After the boys helped her down and her father led the camel away Ziva got a proper look at the dress Abby was wearing. It was surprisingly white, with a corseted top and long loose sleeves, the ribbons in the corset were black and trailed the entire length of the dress. The skirt of the dress was composed of several layers of white and grey netting and blew in the breeze of the desert. Her hair was not in its usual bunches, but instead curled around her face, topped off with a tiara. She looked like a princess. Feeling self concious Ziva looked down, however her trousers and t-shirt were gone to be replaced with a tight black dress that was cut in a way to show off her back and yet still be modest at the front and to flow out at the bottom._

_"Abby, I have to warn you, I'm dreaming!"_

_"Oh but Ziva baby, so am I! I'm just not sure whos dream I'm actually in"_

_"Does it matter Abigail, we are both here now and it's perfect, I never want to let you go! If today taught me anything its that I never want to be without you!"_

_"It taught me the same! Ziva promise me you won't give up on us ok!"_

_"I won't give up!"_

"Thats the spirit my dear! You should never give up." Chimed ducky from the seat beside her.

Ziva wasn't sure exactly how much he had heard, but she knew he had been right. She most certainly could never give up on Abby and their lives together. If only she could persuade Abby that they could be together happily ever after.

Arriving at the airport she saw that Gibbs had already arrivedand was impatiently waiting for them. As soon as the car had stopped he had opened the door and was ready to go.

"Where to then Jethero, your house?" Gibbs house had still not been sold yet, but on some level Ziva thought maybe thats the way he wanted it, otherwise he would have removed the boat and furniture for when it was being shown off to potential buyers. He however stated that he would rather go to Abbys house and get set up.

Ziva wasn't sure what exactly he was setting up for but she just agreed to silently.

* * *

><p>At NCIS Tony was pacing around like a madman. He had specifically said he wanted Mikels remains brought to NCIS by 0600 hours, it was now 7 o'clock and the van was yet to pull up. It arrived when he was about to call for the umpteenth time and shout at people. It didnt take long for him to unzip the bag and see his worst fears confirmed. The man in this body bag was a very crude look a like of Mikel. Abbys stalker was out there somewhere, and he probably had Abby. He could be beating her up, or hurting her in worse ways. Tony shuddered, he would not think of the many horrid things that Mikel could be doing to his friend. Not that he could help the feeling in his gut telling them to help out faster.<p>

He just hoped that when she returned, she would be the same person.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Abby was awoken by the door opening. She realised that she had no way of running out and so pretended to still be asleep, only opening her eyes enough to peek out from between her eye lashes. She saw Mikel watching her, holding a plate. On this plate she was shocked to see a slice of chocolate cake. "You brought cake?" she asked, entirely forgetting that she was pretending to be asleep.<p>

"Of course I did Abs, I love you, I brought the cake to show you that I love you."

"You know you might be a nut job, but I'm begining to think you're the only one in this state who does love me!"

As soon as she said that Mikel grinned wide before giving her a kiss on the lips.

The camera in the corner then turned away, it had seen all it had to.


	7. Mikel is safe

AN - sorry this is so short! I will try to update it more tonight after work as well

When Mikel exited Abby's room, a grin on his face he was confronted by two angry guards.

"You are not to sweep in yet… the plan requires her to think no-one cares."

"b…b….b..but you said I could get her when you were done messing!"

"We're done messing now… the cops might be onto us now; we think it's time to cut our losses. Eli doesn't care what happens to her now, he just want her outta the picture. Best do it while Ziva still believes."

"NO! You can't hurt Abby! Not now!"

Meanwhile Abby is sitting on her bed, she doesn't know if she was meant to overhear that or not, but it doesn't matter anymore. No-one is coming for her, and she just kissed Mikel.

Mikel seems nice enough; he seems willing to defend her. As long as she has him she will be ok.

Sadly, if that sound of gunfire is to be believed, she may no longer have him any more.

Nowhere will be safe for her, or for the rest of the team.


End file.
